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The Little Insurgent Monument, Warsaw Old Town

Warsaw Old Town – The Little Insurgent Monument

In Nazi occupied Warsaw children shared the hardships and horrors of everyday life. Later – during Warsaw Uprising 1944 many children, especially within the Gray Ranks (war-time name of the Polish Underground Scouting), distributed mail, relayed messages, and fought fires; some became line soldiers.

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Warsaw Uprising, 1944 – the scouts deliver a post

Scout Field Post was a phenomenon of the Warsaw Uprising on a European scale. In the first days of the Uprising, the flow of information between different parts of the city captured by Poles was limited. The Scout Field Post was established on the strength of an agreement between the Scout Commander in Chief and the High Command of the Warsaw Home Army District on 4th August 1944. It was to be formed by the youngest group of scouts known as the Zawiszaks. The first postal service was organised by scout chief Kazimierz Grenda codename “Granica” in the South-Central district on 2nd August 1944. This service only operated on a limited territory within this district. On 4th August, the Commander in Chief of the Scout Association, scoutmaster lieutenant Stanisław Broniewski, codename “Orsza” decided to establish a Scout Field Post for the entire city. Post boxes with a fleur-de-lis (the scout symbol) and sign saying “Scout Field Post” were located in 40 points of the city. The post was delivered free of charge. However, donations such as books, bandages and food for the injured in hospitals were readily accepted. The number of letters varied between 3,000 to 6,000 daily and reached 200,000 letters during 63 days of the battle.

Legia Football Club Fan’s tatoo

On October 1, 1983, the most poignant of all Uprising monuments was unveiled by the walls of the Barbican, along Podwale street in Warsaw’s Old Town. Designed by Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz and funded by collections undertaken by scouts, the bronze installation shows the figure of a boy soldier clutching a Sten gun and weighed down by an adult-sized helmet. Commemorating the children who served as messengers and frontline troops.

Jerzy Jarnuszkiewicz created the design for the monument in 1946, which was used to make smaller copies of its present state. The statue was revealed by a Boy Scout in 1983 – Professor Jerzy Świderski – a cardiologist who during the uprising was a messenger code runner named ‘Lubicz’ in the ‘Gustaw’ regiment of the Home Army. Behind the statue is a wall with the engraved words of a popular song from the period: ‘Warsaw children will go off to fight, we will, our capital, shed blood over every stone’.

During the annual celebration of the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, the Monument is covered with flowers and candles. They are primarily placed by children and scouts of Warsaw, who commemorate their peers and pay tribute to the Fallen.